McDonald's opens net-zero restaurant in the UK

McDonald's has opened what it calls the UK's first net-zero carbon restaurant dubbed “The Market Drayton McDonald’s”, which will serve as a blueprint for future restaurants around the country.

The Market Drayton McDonald’ has been designed to be a net-zero emissions standard in both construction and everyday operation.

The restaurant is built to the UK Green Building Council's net-zero standard, which is among the first to account for embodied carbon, which is the upfront carbon emitted during the restaurant’s construction.

McDonald's reduced the upfront carbon emissions by replacing the usual concrete piles with a concrete slab made using pulverized fuel ash and blast-furnace slag to reduce portland cement content. McDonald's development director Gareth Hudson emphasized that the building frame itself was steel.

Lowering the carbon footprint of the modular steel frames for the structure of the building was more challenging. McDonald’s worked with supplier Elliott and with a specialist company called Recycled Steel.

As there is not enough recycled steel in the market to meet demands, McDonald’s opted for low-carbon European steel, which is a mixture of new and recycled steel. “

The walls were wrapped in sheep wool and covered in metal developed from recycled IT equipment and "white goods" such as washers, refrigerators, stoves, and cookers, along with sustainably harvested poplar and plastic cladding made from recycled plastic bottles. The internal parapets on the roof, which no one sees, are presumably constructed of recycled toasters and blenders.

Instead of using aluminum commercial windows, it has used sustainably sourced timber.

A thousand concrete curbs were replaced with Durakerbs made from recycled bottles, and the drive-thru lane is paved with recycled tires. McDonald's claims that "this material releases less carbon dioxide and allows greater water absorption, lowering rainwater drainage."